Chinese Night In

Sweet & Sour with Miso Roasted Cauliflower;  Chinese Fried Rice; Pineapple Fritters

Ingredients – serves 2 

Equipment 

• Small fry pan or wok for rice
• Sieve or colander
• Box Grater
• Chopping Board
• Knife
• Small Bowl to mix miso
• Small Bowl to mix corn flour
• Dish or saucer for coating pineapple rings for fritters
• Oven Tray or Oven Proof Pan – to fit your cauliflower
• 2 plates for chopped ingredients
• Spoon to baste
• Oven glove/ tea-towel
• Medium pan for sauce
• teaspoons to taste
• 3 bowls – 2 for sweet sour/ 1 for rice to share

Preheat Oven to 180C

Put the 150g of rice in the wok or large pan with about 200ml water (your rice should be fully submerged and about ½ cm additional water on top) on a medium high heat,

Add the star anise

Check and remove off heat when rice is cooked after 10 minutes.  Drain and cool under cold tap

Mix the miso with water to make liquid, or if you have a liquid sachet, you can drizzle straight onto the cauliflower.  

Take the outer leaves of the cauliflower and place the whole head upright in an oven proof pan.

Drizzle the miso over the cauliflower

Place in centre of oven

Knife Skills & Veg Prep – do this all together and set aside, one pile for sweet & sour; one for the rice.  Sweet and Sour has chunky veg, whereas the rice you want a small dice.

Grate the ginger & garlic – split half in each pile

For Sauce Rough chop the carrot – skin on is fine, but if muddy, peel – this is for the sauce

Remove outer leaves & slice spring onions – green ends for the rice, the paler end for garnish

For Sauce – Rough chop half the red pepper

For Rice – Fine dice the other half red pepper

For Sauce – Rough chop half the shallot

For Rice – Fine dice the other half shallot

Slice the red chilli – optional for garnish and rice

Coriander – rough chop, stems for rice, leaves for sweet and sour & garnish

Take 2 rings of pineapple and quarter – retain the juice

Check your cauliflower – if coloured and softened, remove from the oven and set aside.  The timing will vary on this, it’s generally 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the cauli.

Make Sweet & Sour Sauce

Put your medium pan onto a medium heat

Add a splash oil

Add the rough chopped shallot, stir a soften

Add pineapple juice from one can and lower heat

Add a splash water

Add 2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup

Add 2 tablespoons soy sauce

Add the rough chopped pepper

Add the quartered pineapple

Add the carrot

Simmer

Mix one tablespoon corn flour with a splash of water to make a paste

Increase heat slightly and add corn flour to the pan

Keep simmering until the veg are cooked and the sauce has reduced to the expected consistency

Add Cauliflower to the Sauce

You can choose how to serve your cauliflower – we like to slice in half through the centre of the stalk and then place flat side down in the pan with the sauce – but you can slice into steaks or florets as you prefer. 

Add to the sauce, baste and leave.

Make Fried Rice

Take your wok and add a good splash of oil.  The work should be on a medium high heat.

Add the fine dice shallot, stir and soften briefly – then and the pepper, ginger, garlic and the rice.  Stir so all evenly distributed, then add chilli to taste, the stalks of the coriander, the greens of the spring onion.

Mix through and once piping hot, take off the heat.

Serve

Pop your cauliflower and sauce back on the heat for a couple of minutes and baste the sauce over the cauliflower.   Split between 2 bowls, and garnish with chilli, coriander and spring onion.

Add your rice into another bowl, and garnish as you want.

Pineapple Fritters

Put the remaining cornflour on the dish/ saucer and take your remaining pineapple rings, coat in the flour.  In a small pan, heat 2mm oil, till hot and then fry your fritters for 2 minutes each side – you should get some colour.  Serve with ice cream and we really like a bit of diced chilli or finely shredded mint.